Around March 28, 1861

During the years of his term in office, President Lincoln read two letters that were to remind him of how our nation was forged. Abraham Lincoln, like most other presidents, received letters giving him praise and thanks for all the work he had done. Abraham Lincoln also received mail detailing news from the battle front and giving support from the home front. Two of those letters focused more...

On April 27th, 1861 President Lincoln extended the blockade to Virginia and North Carolina. This declaration was an extension from the original one on April 19th for seven of the Confederate States. The intention for this decision was to cut off the international trade lines for the Confederacy and make it difficult to transport weapons and troops. The rigid blockade was established on the Southern...

From Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, which prevented illegal imprisonment. This enraged Maryland citizens who were at the heart of the matter. They felt that this surrender of privileges of free men was unnecessary. One reason for the suspension was due to John Merrymen. He blew up a railroad bridge in Baltimore County...

In April of 1861 the Fall of Fort Sumter gripped the United States. After this dramatic turning point, both the North and South began to take offensive and defensive measures. Suddenly, the nation stood at the threshold of war. Only approximately two weeks after Beauregard's Confederate troops had stormed the national fort, a large group of clergymen from across the state of Mississippi gathered...

Early in the year rumors and tensions about secession began to spread throughout the nation, but were mainly focused in the South. As one New York Times reporter stated, There are rumors that a body of men are moving on San Antonio to take the arsenal there. Gen. Twiggs has called in the troops to protect it.' (The New York Times, January 31, 1861, p. 1) General Twiggs promptly moved...

The inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the beginning of a new presidential term and a new era, would be the end of the old Union. According to historian William Freehling, "none of Lincoln's 26,375 southern votes came from the Lower South and only 1887 from the Middle South (all in extreme northwestern Virginia)." Lincoln kept quiet between the time of his election and the delivery of his inaugural...

A group of armed men accused of being pro-Confederate, formed at Camp Jackson in St. Louis, Missouri. Simultaneously, a pro-Union group, headed by Nathaniel Lyon, formed to counter the threat. Lyon surrounded the camp and forced the surrender of the troops, although they professed their loyalty to the Union. Because of the current events and violence at all levels (local, state, regional, and...

Although Virginia decided to secede from the Union, the northwestern counties of the Allegheny region had different beliefs about the state's actions. Three out of every four voters were against the secession. As tensions mounted with the parent state, northern counties formed their own state and broke away from Virginia, allowing them to remain loyal to the Union. The issue of the discontentment...

After the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Kentucky wanted to pursue a neutrality policy between the North and the South. Many Kentuckians supported the idea of remaining neutral through the conflict, although eventually both sides became so strong that Kentucky had to eventually align with one. In the mean time they declared, that this state and the citizens thereof shall take no...

With hostilities breaking out between Confederate and Union forces in the east, a secessionist uprising in California was feared. In command of the U.S. Army’s Department of The Pacific, was Col. Albert S. Johnston; an adopted Texan with questionable loyalties. Believing that Johnston posed a risk to Union control in California, General Winfield Scott dispatched Brigadier General E. V. Sumner...